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A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
81–90 of 200 posts
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#82The insanity of the charges/sentencing reminds me of a passage from The Hot House (which is excellent, Pete Earley somehow got permission to go mingle with prisoners at USP Leavenworth for a year and write about it). A Bank Robber, 45 'They originally charged me with murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery, but I'm really just a bank robber with really bad luck. You see, my buddy and me were robbing this bank, and when…
If you think this sentence was unjust, there is another Colorado prisoner named Michael Dipentino. He is currently serving a 305 year sentence. What was his heinous crime? According to the Denver DA [1] he created phony checks to buy $200,000 worth of postage stamps, that he later pawned or resold. He was facing a minimum of 96 years after his conviction, but the judge decided to give him 305 years.
The "justice" system is completely out of control.
[1] http://www.denverda.org/News_Release/Releases/2006%20Release...
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#83The insanity of the charges/sentencing reminds me of a passage from The Hot House (which is excellent, Pete Earley somehow got permission to go mingle with prisoners at USP Leavenworth for a year and write about it). A Bank Robber, 45 'They originally charged me with murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery, but I'm really just a bank robber with really bad luck. You see, my buddy and me were robbing this bank, and when…
What's the problem with the charges? Felony murder is serious business. Yeah, he didn't choose to kill anyone by his own hand directly, but he wantonly created the felonious circumstances which directly led to someone's death. As for the "kidnapping", that's an understandable edge case for the legal definition entailing taking a human body (which may or may not have been legally dead at that particular point) without…
When felony murder kills a bystander through recklessness, that makes sense. Felony suicide should not count as felony murder by the partners. He got himself killed.
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's very similar to the drug problem. As soon as we label these people criminals, we just don't care what happens to them. Because they are now not people, the DA has no problem throwing every single possible crime against them. This means they are not prosecuted for much more than what they did. "Going easy" on criminals is not a good way to retain a position in government in the US, so we do the opposite. It is in…
> As soon as we label these people criminals, we just don't care what happens to them. Probably because felons don't have the right to vote. So no politician or anyone else cares much.
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Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it always override the Good Samaritan law? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law "Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated." Does the law allow you to act as a Good Samaritan in the course of committing a felony?
It might protect you from breaking the heart attack victim's ribs while delivering CPR, but it won't protect you from inducing a heart attack in the bank teller you tried to feloniously rob.
Why would it protect you from that? You aren't trying to help the bank teller.
This guy tried to help his buddy. He should be charged with what he actually is responsible for. His buddy sealed his own fate.
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#86Talk about cruel punishments, locking up someone for two fucking robberies without any deaths for nearly a century is unreasonable, cruel and defies everything our civilization stands for. But hey, private prison operators need to make money and police/DA/any part of the justice system profits from being "tough on crime"... Thank God I'm German, even if you end up killing someone you'll at most get 15 years (okay, th…
It's very similar to the drug problem. As soon as we label these people criminals, we just don't care what happens to them. Because they are now not people, the DA has no problem throwing every single possible crime against them. This means they are not prosecuted for much more than what they did. "Going easy" on criminals is not a good way to retain a position in government in the US, so we do the opposite. It is in…
More and more we prosecute people for who they are, not what they did
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on the country maybe? Here in Brazil no one believes criminals can be fixed, here we want them away, locked up or dead.
They should change name from correctional facilities to something else then. Joking aside, I think that using prisons just for isolation is a waste of tax payer money. Just think about at the case at hand, we are wasting the money needed to keep this guy in jail for another 8 decades with no actual reasons. edit: fix grammar
What's the alternative, in your mind?
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main function of prisons is to keep the criminals away from law-abiding society. Note that the guy's accomplice continued his criminal behavior inside prison. That said, 10-15 is more than enough for this kind of crime.
> That said, 10-15 is more than enough for this kind of crime. Indeed. When he gets two-three murders worth of time without murdering anyone, you really have to question the proportionality of the whole thing. They both definitely deserved jail time. I'm certain the crimes had an impact on the people they robbed and threatened. And I agree, 10-15, MAYBE up to 20 is proportionate. 90 years is not.
20 years for two armed robberies is not remotely appropriate. It only seems appropriate in a system where people routinely get sentences longer than a standard lifespan.
And it's not only from a moral standpoint - the economics of it are ridiculous, too. The social harm done from two robberies is not worth the cost of locking someone up until they die.
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it always override the Good Samaritan law? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law "Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated." Does the law allow you to act as a Good Samaritan in the course of committing a felony?
It might protect you from breaking the heart attack victim's ribs while delivering CPR, but it won't protect you from inducing a heart attack in the bank teller you tried to feloniously rob.
I think the OP was thinking of the attempt to save his buddy who was shot. I can't see how that was being a good Samaritan; that act wasn't about saving his life, it was about keeping him out of the hands of the police.
If he asks that in general, I would think being a Good Samaritan would take precedence over lots of crimes. For example: speeding or driving through a red light on your way to a hospital with a heavily wounded passenger, or jumping into a pool where it is forbidden to swim to save someone from drowning IMO should not be punished.
Felonies may be different. For example, pulling a huge man in the line of fire to save two others? Highly questionable, IMO. On the other hand, this article seems to indicate that pulling someone from the ledge he wants to jump of or even preventing someone from falling out of a tree legally is kidnapping. If so, I would hope one can't go to prison for such acts.
Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
The deal you get from prosecutors is only as good as your lawyer and good lawyers cost money. This is what happens when the criminal justice system is run by politicking judges and prosecutors elected by a public whose understanding of punitive systems doesn't get any more nuanced than "let's be hard on crime!"
Sounds not unlike the non-insured experience at any hospital - you get charged with insane amounts of stuff so they can negotiate discounted reasonable rates with insurance companies. If you don't have representation you basically get shafted.
I've often thought I need a medical agent for negotiating with hospitals and navigating my insurance. Do you know of anyone doing this? Might be a company idea in there somewhere. Medical negotiation agent.